Is the battle against corruption lost?

Tilting towards the corrupt? Photo: JUSTICE Boxers.com

By the time this piece appears in print, Begum Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman could be out of jail through, of course, "due process of law," as repeatedly asserted by their followers.
Begum Zia presided over the most despicable administration this country has ever endured. Her family members, especially her two brothers and two sons, became the symbol of corruption and abuse of the state authority bestowed on their sister and mother, respectively.
When she was only eleven days away from allegedly rigging the scheduled January 22 general election, the so-called 1/11 occurred. Her opponents along with the general people, except for the die-hard supporters of the alliance government and their beneficiaries, heaved a natural sigh of relief.
Although the main function of this administration was to assist the reconstituted EC to hold the general election with a genuine voter list, the government embarked on a self-appointed agenda under a reconstituted ACC to punish the corrupts and promulgated ordinance under emergency rule to meet that end.
However, from the beginning, the actions of the ACC and the government in dealing with the politicians of the two major political parties gave rise to various hypotheses as regards the motives of the government.
As the anti-corruption drive gained speed, the main wrath of this government appeared to fall on Sheikh Hasina. After her arrest, she was sued one after another on charges of extortion and corruption, while the immediate past PM whose regime has been marked by the biggest plundering of the national wealth and abuse of authority, remained virtually unscathed.
Begum Zia's brother, who was allegedly only second to his own nephew in corruption, was not even on the big list of suspected corrupts. Her second brother was arrested a few weeks ago and was released on bail in a short time. However, the stories of wanton corruption appeared in a number of highly credible print media right after his arrest, with vivid descriptions of what and how he did towards making many of our national institutions financial failures. However, charge against him is as vague as many who have already been convicted on the basis of accumulating wealth disproportionate to income.
Naturally, the highest number of cases was filed against Tarique Rahman, but so far he is facing no trial. Five cases of extortion against him have been stayed by the HC and there was no news of appeal by the state against the stay order. Quite to the contrary, when the extortion case against Sheikh Hasina was stayed by the HC, the then addition AG (current AG) appeared in front of the TV cameras in a melancholy mood and appealed to the Appellate Division, resulting in its overturn in no time.
Recently, Tarique has made a record-setting history by securing bail, not in one or two, but in five cases in a single day, including Zia orphanage trust case in which his mother has allegedly diverted money (2.1 crores) from PM's relief fund to so-called Zia orphanage trust run by him, which he has allegedly misappropriated in its entirety.
The principal counsel of the ACC could not attend the bail hearing as he was ill and the HC did not have time to waste by adjourning the proceedings, since this was not the case of an ordinary person! That is not all. He has added one more laurel to his credit by securing bail directly from the Appellate Division in the bone-chilling case of sharing Tk 21 crore bribery booty with his erstwhile crony following the murder of Humayun Kabir Sabbir.
In this case, too, reportedly neither did the AG attend nor oppose the bail. This is what the authority claims to be "due process of law." A very similar "due process of law" took place when H. M. Ershad was acquitted in corruption cases one after the other, after Tarique and Babar went to his house and made a deal for JP to join the four-party alliance.
To make matters worse, this "due process of law" was initiated in the aftermath of the killing of an innocent citizens as a result of mayhem caused by BNP thugs in the street. Since there was no arrest, even when emergency rule is in force, this is a clear precedent for the appeasement of violence and terrorism that carries a grim message to the nation about the future course of politics. In a corollary of the "due process of law," BNP secretary general's son has also been granted bail.
BNP has already claimed bail as synonymous to acquittal, white-washing all sins, and has challenged the acting AL secretary general to prove that Tarique Rahman is guilty of any misdeeds, albeit it is the responsibility of ACC and the government to prove the charges of the dozen or so cases pending against him.
If members of the Zia family could be out of jail, then no one could disagree with AL acting secretary general when he said: "If champions of corruption are released, the government has no moral or legal right to keep detained the leaders and workers of other parties arrested on so-called corruption charges."
Those who so far have been convicted were mostly on the vague charge of "accumulating wealth disproportionate to income" or some other relatively minor charge. At this stage, it seems impossible for the government to counter the argument that all these arrests, convictions, and bails were guided by the government's discriminatory policy of who they want to eliminate from the political scene.
The ACC chief, whom I still revere, will be hard-pressed to explain to those whom he lectured, travelling from city to city, to instil antipathy against corruption in the mind-set of the young and adult alike. His bureau's actions or inactions have put a burden on the conscience of many of his admirers. Is the battle against corruption lost?

Dr. Mozammel H. Khan is the Convenor of the Canadian Committee for Human Rights and Democracy in Bangladesh.